What you can do

City Actions: Watch the CanCalendar for meetings and hearings on the issues you care about. Send us your suggestions. Also sign up on heyevent.com. This is linked to facebook events. When you are signed up on both, the events are posted on both.

Accessing public records: Francisco’s Sunshine Ordinance empowers the public to request — almost — any record from any city government agency. Be specific in your request. If the question is too broad, it’ll be denied.
Different agencies are governed by different public records laws: San Francisco by the Sunshine Ordinance, California agencies by the California Public Records Act, and federal agencies by the Freedom of Information Act.
You can request the emails of specific Public Works staffers using particular keywords — like “homeless” — or ask for data revealing the number of parking citations issued in your ZIP code. The agency can’t create records for you, but if it exists, you have the right to see it. An example: “I hereby request all complaints related to the Super Bowl City sent to the Board of Supervisors from Jan. 1, 2016, until Feb. 5, 2016.”

Join a group of like-minded citizens to amplify your voice: work with people who support you.

Follow the money: Who’s supporting whom financially? Local political spending going back to 1999 is readily available on the Ethics Commission campaign finance database, available at www.bit.ly/SFfinance.

Follow the lobbyists: The lobbyist activity database at the Ethics Commission can be found at www.bit.ly/SFlobbyists.